Many industries employ plural cartons to pack their products. One known splittable carton is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 1,899,772. An inner wall dividing the plural carton is separated in order to split the carton into two independent units. Such a carton can also be structurally adapted for display functions. However, a single plural carton is not structurally adaptable to accommodate both functions simultaneously.
Plural cartons adapted for display and display cartons, such as the one disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,256,223, are not well suited for shipping products. Typically, such cartons are fabricated from a single ply of cardboard. While the single ply of cardboard is easy to cut, thus making it readily adaptable for display purposes, it offers little protection to products stored within the carton. Consequently, display cartons and single-walled plural cartons employed for the purpose of shipping products must be overpacked. Overpacking is, of course, time consuming and costly and, therefore, undesirable.
Shipping cartons and plural cartons adapted for shipping purposes, on the other hand, are not structurally suited for displaying products. One problem lies with removing the top of the shipping carton in order to display the products stored therein. Adhesive bonds sealing the top flaps of shipping cartons must be strong. As a result of these strong bonds, pulling the top flaps apart can be a formidable task. One convenient method to circumvent the step of pulling open the top flaps would be to cut around the periphery of the carton and remove the top portion. However, prior art plural cartons are not constructed to readily facilitate this method. Even if the periphery of the carton is out, the top portion is still attached to the inner wall. Detaching the top portion from the inner wall requires additional, often difficult, cutting. This problem is evident in many known shipping cartons. Yet additional cutting is required if the plural carton employs inner side flaps depending from the inner panels. In this case, the top portion also adheres to the inner side flaps. To detach the inner side flaps from the inner walls, the top portion must be folded back and the inner flaps must be cut away from the inner walls. Inner side flaps are employed by plural cartons, such as the one disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,135,457.
Another problem with shipping cartons adapted for display is that they cannot be stacked. Stackable cartons are advantageous because they save storage space. Although many known shipping cartons possess sufficient strength to be stacked one atop another, they lose this strength when adapted for display. Too much structural support is lost when substantial portions of face surface are removed. As a result, heavy loads placed atop such cartons cause their walls to collapse.